1.4: Just a Pit Stop
The fourth session of The Empress' New Fleet. Played in May 2016. The Party * Icaea Hoia, Human Factotum * Agernásson IV, High Elf Ranger * Trettos, Human Warlock * Gorn Le'Lyana, Human Ardent Journal The sun has yet to rise when the Marius performs an "elegant emergency docking" on a small island with a sandy beach and a rocky, forested interior. Agernásson can't find, or at least recognize, the island on any of the maps they have onboard. The party and the exhausted crew descend from the half-beached ship to investigate the damage. They've hit some rocks in the storm, but though are several small breaches, cut ropes and such, the biggest issue is the mast destroyed by lightning. The party, having its priorities straight, thinks it's important to choose a new captain right away, as poor Merryll got on a sahuagin's bad side (which is any of them). They're just passengers, of course, and the actual crew has other things to do, but the sailors decide not to argue with such heavily armed eccentrics. The party elects Icaea, a relatively experienced seafarer - with a canoe, at least. Can't be too different. He starts barking inane orders, the crew tolerating it for now but getting increasingly sarcastic in tone. Sailor: "Ahem, jury-rigging these repairs shouldn't take too long, but it'll still be a while. You should go make sure the island is safe." Ic: "Indeed! Men, repair the ship! We shall investigate the island!" Sailor: "Yeah, uh, thanks. We'll get right on that." To the crew's disappointment, the party doesn't actually leave. Instead, Icaea reveals a little fruit bat - his magical familiar - he's apparently been nestling in his clothes this entire time. He sends the bat scouting in his stead. It later returns with a report of goblins and hobgoblins moving around on the other side of the island, centered around some kind of cave. Icaea recalls that goblinoid pirates are relatively common in the Shatterstones, and unlikely to be very hospitable. The bat returns into the woods with orders to report anything new. Repairing the ship will require some woodcutting anyway, so the party reasons they can't stay hidden for long. While they're at it, they decide to whip up a rough semicircular palisade around the ship to deter any attackers. Icaea takes charge, drawing up plans and "overseeing" the others, as he likes to put it. As they start working, it doesn't take long for the goblins to hear something and send someone to investigate. Advance warning from the bat allows Icaea, the stealthiest of the bunch, to meet the lone scout halfway and stage an ambush. After watching it walk right by him, he hops out of the undergrowth and sticks his spear right through the back of its head. He hides the corpse in the woods, realizing that it's just a temporary solution but hopeful that it'll at least buy them some time. What little hope they had of diplomacy is definitely gone, though. Icaea stays to keep watch in the woods, but some hours later a small boat rowed by three goblins rounds the island, sees the ship and returns the way it came. They've definitely been spotted. As the sun sets and repairs are still unfinished, the party fully expects a nightly attack, especially as goblinoids can see in the dark. In their own midst, only Agernásson and Flann - both elves - can do the same, so they decide to set up a series of small lamps to light the area between their palisade and the forest. These preparations come in handy a few hours later, as Icaea's bat reports five enemies approaching with a canine-like hunting lizard in tow. The party remarks that it sounds rather small, but considers it logical that the pirates wouldn't just start out with a full frontal assault. Three goblins and their little pet emerge from the woods, with two hobgoblins leading the way. The ship's palisade isn't so much a wall as a series of sharpened poles sticking outwards, possible to walk through but enough to deter a direct charge. The only real entrance is through a rocky patch on the beach, creating a rather effective chokepoint. Icaea, Gorn and Agernásson are on the ground in front of the ship; Trettos and Flann are standing on the bow; and the crew is hiding under the deck. The hobgoblins run right up to the rocks around the entrance, taking cover behind some of the larger ones, but the goblins are reluctant to follow. Gorn and Trettos are glanced by haphazard arrows lobbed their way, but in retaliation, Gorn takes down one of the hobs with two concussion blasts and Trettos invokes a baleful utterance to shatter the other one's sword, leaving it with only a wooden shield and an expression of baffled annoyance. Demoralized by this unfortunate start, the other goblins actually fall back slightly, but their shield-swinging superior's almost berserk assault and the reinforcements (a grand total of two goblins) arriving from the woods prompt them to turn around. However, as the hobgoblin, the hunting lizard and the first two goblins to reach the entrance get slaughtered in no time, the few survivors decide to cut their losses and make a tactical retreat. As hours pass, it's starting to seem that the pirates don't care about their ship that much and the party has almost strangely little interest in seeking out and looting their nest. Throughout the night, several goblins peek from the wood line, only to skitter away again. The bat confirms that there are indeed plenty of them remaining, but a second assault doesn't seem exactly imminent. The party buries the attackers' bodies in the sand and lights a bonfire from the leftover branches scattered around. As morning comes, the crew gets back to work and finishes the repairs. They're not pretty and won't last long, but they won't need to. If the pirates were planning another attack, they were too slow, as the party makes a clean getaway. A few days later, the bedraggled Marius floats safely into the busy harbor of Princebank. Ic: "I can't wait to see how much money we're gonna get for this thing!" Category:Lorelm Category:Kampanjat Category:Content Category:English